Countries of the Rift
by HyperInuyasha
Summary: Shenanigans are a constant occurrence in the countries that inhabit the Rift. (RPG Maker games AU; mainly Yume Nikki centric)
1. Gentle (?)

**_Countries of the Rift_**

_Author's Note: This is an AU for a bunch of RPG Maker games, with each game having a country of some sort in the Rift from Middens. The reason why this is in the Yume Nikki tag is because it's mainly Yume Nikki+fangames centric._

_Plus, I'm trying to take over the Yume Nikki fanfic community. I currently have 5% of the stories here. That's not good enough for domination. I mean what._

_Anyway, I do not own any of the games or characters portrayed in this fic. This fic has no set schedule, so it'll be updated casually in between my main stories, like my One-Shot Compendium and that Persona story._

* * *

_**01**: Gentle (?)_

* * *

Queen Madotsuki came into power at a young age, guiding her country with a gentle hand. Even before, as a princess, she gained admirers when she had time to walk around city slums, playing her flute to uplift the spirits of citizens. She made it a point to personally visit officials in her kingdom and to take a stance against corruption and evil, inside her region and the outer portions of the Rift. The citizens of the kingdom love her, seeing her as a benevolent, gentle ruler.

However, as benevolent as she is, she isn't exactly gentle all the time.

...

In the northern part of the country, a quiet, snowy region, the good queen was just returning from a meeting with the region's governor over recent attacks on traders coming in from the industrial country in the northwest (a shipment of cow produced metal). Madotsuki walked out into the snow, not minding the cold. She looked around for her typical guardians, but could not spot them; a little late, perhaps?

Regardless, it pleased her. Under the watchful eyes of her jellyfish knights, she didn't have much autonomy. She walked through the snow, enjoying the sights, feeling the elements slosh around at her feet; ordinarily, her guards would hurry her through, as if they were guarding a treasure. She looked at the quaint igloos and the snow covered pine trees - lovely.

"Good evening, your majesty." a harsh female voice called out. Someone was walking through the snow. "Awfully cold, isn't it?"

The Queen listened closely to the voice and nearly did a double-take. The voice sounded human, but sound vowels sounded like a rough "squawk".

In the cover of the snow, a Toriningen arrived.

The Toriningen are a terror to the kingdom. Humanoid creatures with bird faces, they terrorize the land, its citizens, often robbing people, or - their specialty - kidnapping people and holding them for ransom. That is what they do in their normal state. Their frenzied state is much more malicious, more unstable, and most importantly, more dangerous.

Madotsuki allows her graceful queen facade to slip, glaring coldly at the monster before her. Just before, and many times in the past, she met with kingdom officials on the crimes of the Toriningen; one of her governors was even murdered, body taken, dumped unceremoniously in a forest, which one of her jellyfish guards later found.

"You're a fool, just walking around without your guards." The bird-woman cackled, taking steps forward, as the queen stood her ground. "Now now, my queen, I won't hurt you unless you cooperate. Besides…" She held up a clawed hand, "...we shouldn't start hurting you until we start releasing ransom videos. We have to let your stupid guards know that we mean business, ahahaha…"

Madotsuki stood cautiously. To the Toriningen, she looked submissive. The woman, surprised that she wasn't kicking up a fuss or trying to run, got into arm's range…

...and was met with a stabbing to the arm.

Underneath her sleeves, the Queen had a backup, something she always carries, something that her guards would disapprove of, something that would have people faint, knowing that her queen regularly wields it - a knife.

The Toriningen screeched, stepping back. Before she can make any move, Madotsuki swiftly made a slashing motion - her enemy was now reeling back, falling onto her back, blood gushing from her chest.

The criminal looked up. She saw the real queen, the true queen: a queen that is nice and benevolent, yet completely ruthless, capable of fighting, delivering a cold look to those she loathes.

The Toriningen screeched, eyes flickering a different color, a crazed bloodlust overtaking her, while Madotsuki just stood there…

* * *

The jellyfish guards found her safe and sound… but…

One of the servants grabbed her, concerned. The Queen's dress was clearly bloodstained.

"It's not my blood." Madotsuki said calmly, voice a bit weak from not talking in a while. "Just head a little north, there's a mess that needs to be taken care of."


	2. Visitor

**02:** Visitor

* * *

The queen's abode is relatively humble in comparison to most people who hold authority. The closest things she had in her room that would be considered wealthy would be rugs that cheaply imitated a dead culture of a splintered civilization and a few bookcases - unlike some collectors though, Madotsuki actually reads some of her books and they weren't for show. Even the television in her room was cheap in quality: it didn't even get basic cable!

Though, Madotsuki wishes that she could rid herself of the dress; alas, she was meeting somebody, and she had to look dignified, even if the surroundings weren't. So, in her dress, she sat down and waited...

The foreign visitor didn't waste much time in arriving. The guards stationed outside of her quarters opened the door, allowing a frowning man in.

The first observation: the man is entirely monochrome, somebody she would mistake to be from her own Monochrome Desert region if she weren't told otherwise.

The second observation: He is dressed up as a baseball player, for whatever godforsaken reason.

"Hello, Mr...?"

"Batter. I am The Batter."

Madotsuki only knew the man as a vagabond, formerly from the kingdom of Vader Eloha. The country there was a seed that didn't start growing until after a few years after Madotsuki's own ascension to the throne - it was relatively a sapling of a nation. As for the man... not many knew him; no one at all knew his true name, if he even had one.

"Excuse the accommodations, Batter. We don't have a true meeting room." she stated.

"It's okay." he said indifferently, crouching on the floor (as he did so, Madotsuki noticed that his eyes seem to be constantly shadowed by his hat...).

"...Excuse me for asking, but why are you dressed as a baseball player?"

"It is my holy garb."

"...ah... er, does this mean that baseball is a sacred tradition where you come fro-"

"Not important." He interrupted.

Other forms of authority would get angry if they were interrupted - she however, was lenient, yet annoyed. "Let's get to the point here: why are you here, sir Batter?"

The man gazed at the ground. Then he calmly said, "I wish for help in my insurrection against my kingdom."

"What."

"You must understand, your highness... have you seen the state of my lands?"

Madotsuki had never actually been to the kingdom. The queen, Vader Eloha, is fairly elusive; other leaders she's met claimed that the woman is just a puppet leader, but there's no definite proof. "Please explain..."

The pale man visibly gritted his teeth: a bit sharp looking. "The Queen's failed in her services for the land. The main citizenry are nervous wrecks that threaten societal collapse within the next few years, the Guardians, the regional rulers, are ineffective in dealing with their civic duties or are corrupt to some extent... and most importantly, there's the damn specters. They're overtaking our lands and are threatening to quicken the inevitable collapse - they must be purified."

A story of corruption and societal turmoil: interesting. Madotsuki thought over it. Helping the Batter seems like a righteous cause on paper... yet, he had no proof on any of this. Perhaps she could collaborate with others for information. Additionally, it's not as if she's the Rift's police, even if it's for a moral cause... Plus, besides trading, she had no real interest in the young nation, and she only chooses to fight wars defensively...

Regardless, Madotsuki is curious on his wants, so the young queen asked, "So... you wish for my troops to help your war?"

"No. I'll be the only fighter."

"What." The queen is starting to feel that it was a bad idea giving audience to the ever strange man in front of her.

"With my holy bat, I will purify the world of malignance. My only concern is that the Queen will reach out for allies to maintain her flimsy control over the kingdom; I merely wish for a blockade to keep anything from leaking out to her allies."

"..." the young ruler sighed. "So, you wish for me to keep any help from getting into the country for no real reason except for a moral one that you may have made up, while you single-handedly start a rebellion?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

From her balcony, Queen Madotsuki watched as the Batter was escorted out of the tower by her jellyfish guards, the man remaining stoic in this humiliation.

She wasn't the first country that the Batter approached for assistance. She heard stories from other leaders, who dismissed him, claiming that he is insane; Madotsuki had wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and given him audience. Unfortunately, the man really does seem to be crazy. Who would believe such claims?

Really, only a crazy person would take him up.

Or, somebody who had a lot to gain.

At the very least, the Queen gave him a prescription to see a therapist.


	3. Pleasant Morning

_**03:** Pleasant Morning_

* * *

Urotsuki walked down the hall, her cape swishing through the air as she went, a pleasant smile under her military cap. Decked in schoolboy like attire, she was ready to start her day.

The young empress has fun stuff to do.

She saw one creature of her empire, a servant, and waved; the other waved back. She saw a different creature and delivered another greeting; the Rift creature seems a bit uneasy, but it returned the greetings.

Her empire is one of the few countries in the deeper realms of the Rift that continually expanded; the Rift swallows the worlds beyond, so expansion within is the course of nature. Areas that weren't part of another country is gobbled up by her - assimilation is rather easy. So, with wide swathes of land under her belt, there is a huge diversity of creatures under her fair(ish) rule, some of whom she was saying hi to at the very moment. Servants, soldiers, some of her "personal entourage", all of them different, all of them admiring her.

It didn't matter if the admiration is genuine or generated by fear. It makes her happy regardless.

"Madam!" one of her servants, a baker woman in a yellow dress and frosting on (or as?) her hair, approached. She looked at what her empress was holding and got a bit unnerved. "Ah… excuse me for interrupting…"

"Oh no, I don't mind. Please, say what you have to say~"

That eased her fears. "Oh… I forgot to ask what cake you wanted for breakfast. I… I'd hate to prepare one you didn't like."

The empress thought it over. "Red velvet."

"I see… thank you, I'll have it ready soon."

"Good girl. Please, take your time~" she complimented, skipping along her way.

After several hallways, she reached her desired room, deep in her domain. She twisted the doorknob and pushed her way through.

The room is dark, but Urotsuki knows of its appearance after frequent visits: sharp instruments of torture are in the room, easily accessed, and her latest victim was stuck in the back of the room, practically crucified.

The woman kept her head down. The empress smiled and finally turned on the chainsaw she'd be lugging all over the place.

"Good morning~ What crime are you guilty of?" she asked.

The woman made an inhuman noise. Definitely just humanoid looking in nature.

"...It doesn't matter. Regardless, you have the death sentence, friend~" Urotsuki honestly didn't know what she was guilty of. All she knew is that she had a fresh victim, offered to her as sacrifice from some prison, as if she was a demon demanding flesh.

It makes her happy.

"Look at it this way: you get to please your Empress. So… be a good girl and take it…"

The woman kept her head down, but was continuing to make her strange noises as the Empress drew near…

* * *

Urotsuki now sat in her room, enjoying a nice red velvet cake, not minding the blood that now stained her clothing. She didn't need to look all clean and fancy looking to be known as a leader.

The girl eagerly ate up her cake. "Hm… I really must give the baker a raise…"


	4. Blighted Land Part 1

**04:**_ Blighted Land, Part 1_

* * *

The thing that resembled a cloud descends from the sky, revealing itself as a white spaceship, heading down to the ruined land below. The computer panels in the ship beep ominously, informing the pilot of the poisonous energies the land is rife with. He had known about the land's danger beforehand - it's rather infamous in the Rift. He was going to go in for a few minutes, find a remnant of the destroyed civilization that isn't irradiated, and head back. The researchers back at his Queen's kingdom would have a field day with what he finds.

The ship landed at what seems to be a parking lot, now rife with dying grass. The door opened, and out came Seccom Masada.

The Monochrome Desert native looked across the landscape with drooping eyes. Former skyscrapers that reached into the heavens are now dominos, lying on top of each other as steel rubble; the streets are broken up as if a great earthquake had swept through; the ashes of the dead formed silhouettes into the ground and onto walls, painting the pictures of individuals going about their regular activities before their sudden downfall.

This world was dead before the Rift took it.

The problem is, nobody knows _how_.

The deceased city, the remnant of a civilization, is filled with a strange deadly energy; however, it wasn't nuclear energy.

It is something… supernatural.

Masada's started running, being mindful of his time. Already, he could feel a strange tingling.

In the distance, he could hear something.

He heard rumors of mutant like beings living in the city. He hopes that they aren't true.

Masada took out a hand scanner and scans objects at random, looking for something safe, yet interesting. He found a cup that wasn't infected - not interesting enough. There are bits of a newspaper scattered on the street, but they were random tidbits that couldn't form a good enough picture of the world before (he took pictures, for reference, though). The ashen silhouettes seems to stare ominously as he passed.

Suddenly, he doubled over in pain, beeping.

He needs to hurry.

He scans frantically.

In the distance he could hear feet dribbling.

Then, his scanner comes up with a positive result.

He walked over cautiously. A strange, metallic object sits before him.

He hears a roar.

The black-suited explorer panicked. He had to leave, before the fabled - though now very much real - monsters arrive, and before he succumbs to the land's poison. Without taking the time to properly examine the metallic object, he scooped it up and ran.

More noises roar around him, picking him up by the sounds of his footsteps. Masada felt his eyes stinging, but resisted the urge to close them.

He reached the lonely parking lot, his precious ship waiting, nobody else in sight. Not even taking a second to look at the world behind him, he ran inside. He carelessly threw the object at the floor in his panic and got to the controls.

That's when he heard them. The pounding at the ship's doors.

Gripping at the controls tightly, Masada launched his ship into the air; he could hear them hissing outside, their noises progressively growing more silent as he ascends.

The noises stop. He's safe.

The explorer, relieved, puts his ship on autopilot. He thought of relaxing his nerves by playing the piano, or washing himself off to make sure the poison is really gone, when -

"...it's come to my attention that I've been liberated from that den of plebeians."

The object spoke.

**To be continued.**

* * *

_**Author's Note:** First multiparter. Until the second part, try to think of which game this is from. :)_


End file.
